San Francisco saw Lucas decision coming

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2013 file photo, Producer George Lucas speaks at the 2013 Governors Awards in Los Angeles. The "Star Wars" creator Lucas has selected Chicago to house his much anticipated museum of art and movie memorabilia, a spokesman for the mayor's office said Tuesday, June 24, 2014. The decision is a major victory for the nation's third-largest city, which was locked in a battle for the museum with San Francisco. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP, file) less

FILE - In this Nov. 16, 2013 file photo, Producer George Lucas speaks at the 2013 Governors Awards in Los Angeles. The "Star Wars" creator Lucas has selected Chicago to house his much anticipated museum of art ... more

Photo: Associated Press

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FILE - In this March 1976 publicity photo released by Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM, director, George Lucas, and actor, Mark Hamill, who portrays young Luke Skywalker, are shown on the salt flats of Tunisia during principal photography of the original "Star Wars." Lucas has selected Chicago to house his much anticipated museum of art and movie memorabilia, a spokesman for the mayor's office said Tuesday, June 24, 2014. Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, confirmed that Lucas had selected Chicago but did not immediately have any details. (AP Photo/Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM, file) less

FILE - In this March 1976 publicity photo released by Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM, director, George Lucas, and actor, Mark Hamill, who portrays young Luke Skywalker, are shown on the salt flats of Tunisia during ... more

Photo: Associated Press

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This Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, file photo, shows an aerial view at night of the downtown Chicago skyline. Star Wars" creator George Lucas has selected Chicago to build his museum of art and movie memorabilia.

This Sunday, Nov. 24, 2013, file photo, shows an aerial view at night of the downtown Chicago skyline. Star Wars" creator George Lucas has selected Chicago to build his museum of art and movie memorabilia.

Photo: Associated Press

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In this Jan. 23, 2011 file photo, football fans tailgate in a parking lot south of Soldier Field, in the background, before a Chicago Bears game in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to persuade "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to put his planned museum of art and movie memorabilia in Chicago and is offering up a slice of real estate along the Lake Michigan shorefront, meaning fans dressed up as Han Solo and Darth Vader might have to cross paths with rowdy Bears tailgaters. less

In this Jan. 23, 2011 file photo, football fans tailgate in a parking lot south of Soldier Field, in the background, before a Chicago Bears game in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is trying to persuade ... more

They’d been bracing for the bad news ever since the Presidio Trust board snubbed Lucas’ bid earlier this year to build a Beaux Arts-style museum on 8 acres near Crissy Field.

Still, the way San Francisco finally learned it was being written off by Lucas didn’t go according to script.

The news was first leaked to the Chicago Sun-Times on Tuesday, a day before Lucas was supposed to sit down separately with Mayor Ed Lee and Presidio Trust officials to reveal whether he had chosen the Windy City or San Francisco for his $700 million museum of illustrative art and Hollywood memorabilia.

After nixing the Crissy Field deal, the Presidio offered Lucas a site near the Letterman Digital Arts Center. City Hall got into the game by dangling a waterfront site that’s across from Piers 30-32 near the Bay Bridge.

But Chicago — hometown of Lucas’ wife, Mellody Hobson — also stepped forward, with Mayor Rahm Emanuel offering to let Lucas put his museum on 17 acres just south of Soldier Field — at a lease of $1 a year.

Team Lucas never seemed to think much of the Presidio site — a spokesman dismissed it as a “Hail Mary” play after the trust came up with it. And the two sides never had any follow-up discussions.

Lucas’ reps showed more interest in the city’s spot along the Embarcadero — although, unlike in Chicago, Lucas would have had to pay $30 million or more to buy the port property.

Sources tell us that Lee had been preparing to sweeten the pot by pledging to help turn Piers 30-32 into a gateway park — possibly with an amphitheater or other public amenities — that would have protected the views of whatever museum Lucas built across the way.

As one city staffer explained, “Piers 30-32 has become a graveyard for development projects” — most recently, the Golden State Warriors gave up on the spot for an arena — “and a partnership with Lucas would be a real shot in the arm to make a far-fetched and expensive idea into something possible.”

But there were plenty of unresolved issues. For openers, it would probably cost more than $100 million to transform Piers 30-32 into a park — so even if the city put up the $30 million-plus from the land sale to Lucas, it would still have been tens of millions of dollars short.

Not to mention that there is plenty of nervousness in development circles about any waterfront project after the political blowback that helped sink both the 8 Washington condos and the Warriors’ arena deal.

“At some point, there is consequence to all this negative energy,” said one mayoral insider.